VUWAE 16A - PART 1

On the evening of November 10 Jennings and Kyle with two Polaris toboggans and two Nansen sledges travelled to Cape Evans. During the journey numerous toboggan stoppages were caused by air locks in the fuel line and oil leaking from a gear box. Camp was finally made by 0300 hours on November 11. Later the same day a trip to Cape Royds was made to obtain paleomagnetic core samples. Initial difficulties with frozen valves in the pressure pump were overcome, but the radiometrically dated site proved unsuitable for obtaining good cores. On November 12 further toboggan repairs were necessary when a drive sprocket key broke. A toboggan was brought from Scott Base by power wagon to replace the machine with a leaking gear box. The afternoon was spent sampling Inaccessible Island. On November 13 while attempting to find a route up Mt. Erebus from Cape Barne a toboggan lost its track. Repairs took 6 hours after returning to Cape Evans for spare parts. Sampling and inspection of Mt. Cis (400 m) was completed during this time. The party returned to Scott Base the following day.